This year, ask for your own Heifer International animal gift

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – This year, don’t just give the gift of a cow, goat, pig, camel or other animal from Heifer International’s colorful catalog, ask for a similar gift yourself. There’s joy in giving, but there’s joy in receiving, too, especially considering the difference the gift you give or receive will make in a family’s life.

In Armenia, for example, a Heifer project participant who received a heifer and training in 2003 today has a herd of 42 Holsteins. She collects 300 liters of milk per day and has five or six calves she sells every year for income. Before partnering with Heifer, the family missed meals and rarely ate meat. Now, they can prepare nutritious meals at any time, and with the extra income, they have been able to improve their home and send three daughters to university.

It’s a story of a family that moved from having nearly nothing to running and managing a small business. No music player, sweater or necktie will do that.

So don’t just give a gift from Heifer International. Ask for a gift from Heifer International as well. You receive an acknowledgement card and a family somewhere in the world receives an animal and training. You feel good about giving or receiving the gift and a family gets the chance to change their future, to lift themselves out of hunger and poverty to self-reliance.

The family gets the joy of giving, too, as they Pass on the Gift of the first-born female offspring of their animal and training in its care to another family in need.

So, as you check gifts off your list for friends and family, be sure to add an animal from Heifer International to your wish list as well. Many gifts will change hands this holiday season, but few will have the power to change lives.

For more information, visit www.heifer.org or call (800) 696-1918.

Heifer’s mission is to end hunger and poverty while caring for the Earth. Since 1944, Heifer International has provided livestock and environmentally sound agricultural training to improve the lives of those who struggle daily for reliable sources of food and income. Heifer is currently working in 50 countries, including the United States, to help families and communities become more self-reliant.